Will I love The Prince and the Pauper?

I liked this book so much I turned it into a play, which has been performed by a number of schools in the United States and England.

A nineteenth-century classic (first published in 1881) by one of America’s most famous writers, it tells the story of two boys who swap places: one is Prince Edward, the son of King Henry VIII, the other is Tom Canty, a poor boy from the London streets. The action, full of twists and turns (and Twain’s satirical observations about wealth, power, and identity) unfolds in London and Kent and incorporates a host of weird… show more.

Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper is super well-known, even if you don't know that you know it. This switching places story has been adapted and re-done a hundred different ways. The plot has been featured in multiple TV show episodes, some faithful film adaptations, and children's cartoons. It may be the most well-known story of switching places ever written. Mark Twain is considered to be one of the greatest American authors. He wrote books in the same era as Charles Dickens, Edgar Allen Poe, Mary Shelley, and many of the greats of classic literature. 

This book and its… show more.

Disney got their hands on this title too. Mickey Mouse starred in it.

Mark Twain, in nearly all his writings, continually attacked the hypocrisies found in humankind and society, and never more so than in this book. It is a very fun read—witty, sarcastic, comic—but also a scathing attack against injustice and intolerance. It champions fairness and equality and denounces those who judge others by appearance only. It promotes the idea that all those who make laws, and profess them, should also be subject to them. I wish every political leader would read this book.

Among novels that combine literary invention with real world punch, none stand taller. In Prince, Twain uses careful control of character perspective to shed cold, objective, devastating light on the treatment of the poor and the lame in nineteenth century Britain. His device is a mix-up of two characters with identical looks – an impoverished street urchin and the crown prince of Britain. The reader views the Royal Court through the eyes of an urchin, and the streets of London's worst neighborhoods through the eyes of a prince. The book triggered global rage and led England towards radical change… show more.